JERUSALEM, March 15 (Reuters) – Israel and Lebanon are expected to hold talks in the coming days aimed at securing a durable ceasefire that would see Hezbollah disarmed, two Israeli officials said on Sunday, though the timing and terms have yet to be agreed.
Beirut is forming a delegation for talks but no date has been set. Lebanon needed clarity on whether Israel would abide by President Joseph Aoun’s first point — a demand for a full ceasefire to allow negotiations to take place, three Lebanese officials said on Saturday.
The expected talks were first reported by Israel’s newspaper Haaretz on Saturday.
A Lebanese official said on Sunday that Lebanon has not yet received official notification from Israel on discussions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s confidante Ron Dermer is leading the talks for Israel, the Israeli officials said, and France was involved in the initiative.
Israel’s Army Radio said on Sunday that Dermer, who previously served as minister of strategic affairs, had visited Saudi Arabia last week to discuss the talks that would begin once the current military campaign against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah is exhausted.
Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar earlier on Sunday denied any talks with Lebanon were being held.
Lebanon was sucked into the war in the Middle East on March 2 when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel, saying it aimed to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. Israel has responded with an offensive that has killed more than 800 people in Lebanon and forced more than 800,000 from their homes.
Aoun has expressed the state’s willingness for direct talks with Israel, seeking to secure an end to the war.
The Lebanese state’s readiness for talks with Israel has come at a time of sharpening tensions within Lebanon over Hezbollah’s status as an armed group. The Beirut government this month banned Hezbollah’s military activities. The group rejected the move and fought on, firing hundreds of rockets at Israel.
An Israeli official told Reuters on Friday that the campaign against Hezbollah would likely be intensified and continue even after strikes on Iran die down.
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; additional reporting by Nazih Osseiran in Beirut; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Diane Craft)
